Monday, July 30, 2007

So after having this crazy craving for banana cream pie for pretty much 3 years, I think, the boy and I finally made one today. Usually I would have Stoughton Cake, but since I had that recently at my grad party I decided to go to the pie route.

We used a recipe in the cook book I got for X-mas, doing it the real custard way with egg yolks and everything. We switched to a graham cracker crust, though, instead of macadamia nuts and shredded coconut. You have to be very patient to make the kind of pie that results from not using instant pudding. I suppose that goes without saying, but really. There were about 4 hours of waiting around for custard to cool and the pie to set. Even in the end it wasn't really set. I wonder if it will set tomorrow. Didn't matter so much. It was tremendously rich and delicious and I'm looking forward to having a second (slightly smaller, I think @_@) slice/scoop of it tomorrow.

PS - This is not the entry that is supposed to contain pix of the zoo and other sites.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I'm going to blog about last weekend and how the boy and I went to the zoo and how Ian and Co. came up from Santa Cruz on Monday to see some sites. I have pictures. I will post them...just not right now.

This is the thing about bloggin! Takes so much time! For instance, I am now 22. I have been blogging since I was...18? Not here, but yeah, since then. Four years of blogging. I can still go look back at those first posts and wonder how the hell I even made it.

Basically, I'm sort of a workaholic. I even went to the IRS in the Federal Building yesterday (which is only slightly less difficult to get into than an airport) to discuss whether or not I have to prepay my taxes. ACTUALLY, as it turns out, I don't, because I didn't file taxes last year (didn't make enough.) On the one hand, that's great. On the other hand, even if I don't, I don't think I will make enough money to pay back my student loans much less cover the expenses of Tokyo for two weeks even if I do have that super affordable and awesome homestay now. NOTTINGHAM! I want to go to Gamecity, but I have a feeling it won't happen. I need a fundraiser.

Fundraising! Writing about videogames, at least at this juncture, is not terribly good at that. Yet, I hope? I think maybe once I start getting paid for things from some people it will turn out ok, but I still don't have the money NOW to do things in October, and I probably won't until like March, if even then. And how am I supposed to be pick up the last two consoles in the midst of all this mayhem?

Anyways, writing about videogames IS a really good way to suck up your Friday night, or every night! I guess it's good to have a job that you don't particular MIND doing your every waking minute, but it would still be nice to read Harry Potter since we did end up picking it up (the day of) at the grocery store...

and study Japanese...

and get some laundry done...

and watch some movies...

cartoons...

maybe!

One thing I don't have to do unless I strictly want to is run all over town. I've been out and about quite a bit more than I ever expected this week, making the trip to 1up (or further!) twice in a day at least two days of the week. Honestly, I can't believe that it was just Monday that Ian was here and Tuesday was my birthday. Feels like a month ago @_@

Anyways, I'm off to putter about or something. Maybe read a bit before locking myself into a Sword of the New World marathon...

Friday, July 20, 2007

I am supposed to be taking a break from staring at games, but I decided I had to blog about this is the worst hummus and carrots I've ever had. This brand of hummus is just way too plain. Needs some spices.

Since I got my first job from IGN I've been working pretty hard. Well, I got a pile of stuff for GamePro, too, so basically I've been working on one game all day and will switch gears after dinner to the MMO project.

Then again, it's Harry Potter night, so I'm guessing (well I was guessing, until I was told) that there are to be not a small number of festivities occurring. I'm not sure the boy will be up for that, but it's possible that we may go out and run amuck. I'm almost tempted to get the book, because I would really like to read it. I don't have any of the other ones, though, as the HP series was a family collection (or mostly my brother's I suppose, in a prominent family location so we could all have access).

Kinda hoping I can leech once someone finishes. I know plenty of people who are getting it and they all intend to read it straight through without stopping, as is the fashion.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I received an e-mail today from a fellow who didn't think I remembered him whereas, in fact, I remember him rather more clearly than most because he had a crush on me and it was a source of some distress when we were paired together for a history project. Then he moved away which I guess was sort of sad but also relieving. We were sort of friends, though, so probably more sad. There was probably much geeking out to be had that was missed.

Anyways, I am supposed to be on my way to lunch with my friend and got sidetracked by this whole thing. Now he'll think I'm a flake!

Mmm, so it turns out that I should be on my third tax payment this September...I think. That's bad. And really it's more like my fifth and sixth because I owe both state and federal. Hell, I half wonder if there aren't San Francisco taxes. So much for...anything, I guess. I feel sort of doomed. Taxes are very complicated and it's not like I can afford to hire an accountant (much less much of anything anymore. Gah, I wonder how much I owe. It must be hundreds of dollars...

I don't really want to think about it, but I should probably go down to some offices tomorrow and figure out what I'm supposed to do...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I made the mistake of drinking coffee with caffeine in it today. Forgot to ask for decaf espresso in my mocha. Aiie.

Other than that things were quite good. Met up with a friend from UOP for lunch and we had a bit of a wander. MOMA wasn't open, so we ended up at the mall that is near but not actually the Metreon. There are fancy clothes there.

One of the stores in particular has a rather interesting set-up, but alarmingly all their male manikins had seriously stuffed "packages". Like overly so. I was tempted to mention this at that moment to my friend, but thought he would find it odd that I was putting so much thought into the crotches of manikins.

He (my friend) seems to have evolved his tastes. Or maybe he always had good taste and just wasn't able to afford them. In particular, I enjoyed his exchange with the staff at The Art of Shaving. Apparently he's quite interested in getting a cleaner, more comfortable shave. Challenged that clerk's knowledge, and I think the guy did pretty well.

After that I stopped home quick to grab my J-notebook, the number of whose pages is swiftly dwindling. I need a new one. Anyhow, met Kayo, a neighbor of Shin's, who arrived from Japan almost two months ago. She seems really cool and I'm looking forward to not only studying with her, but also the possibility of just being friends and doing things that friends do like watching movies. She likes the outdoors, so I'm thinking we will maybe have the opportunity to visit parks together. I said we should go camping and wasn't really kidding, although I'm pretty certain neither of us have neither the equipment nor funding necessary for such a venture. Getting my mom to bring tennis rackets from Wisconsin, however, is probably a viable prospect. Until then, I think once the apt is a bit cleaner we will make do with Wii Sports.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

and this blog is such an emo train wreck! I studied some kanji today. There is one weird one that has a component that is like a stretched out kanji eye. Hard to write because you want to write it like a regular eye would be written.

Yesterday I met up with the guys from ripten for lunch at this Chinese place on Clement. Ate way too much food and it wasn't so much a business lunch as just a screw around lunch. He didn't bring the build he was going to (but we hadn't discussed it lately, so I suppose it's fair that he forgot) but he did bring his gf and his friend's gf and another friend. Ah well, we had fun, I guess, even if it was a bit awkward.

It's been a week since last Sunday when we all went out to the wharf for videogames and goofiness. Checked out the Ripley's museum. It feels like it's been longer, but I guess that's what E3 week feels like...even when you're not anywhere near or having anything to do with it? Maybe that's what a deadline week feels like then, how about that? I like deadlines, though. Keep life interesting.

Today I'll end up going to the grocery store and picking up this place a bit. The bedroom has turned into my creepy freelance nest and really needs some organization and just a good clean. Still have a lot of games to play before I start writing stuff. Worried that the feature is going to come up a little short, or at least feel half-assed because I only got to play half of the games I'm talking about. We do what we can, but I feel like it was a mistake to not import the PSP game, maybe, even though it would've cost me half the pay for the article... That's so silly, though. I hope we find an import sponsor soon. I mean, a discount is only a discount, but every little bit counts. And really, they'd probably be making MORE money off of us that way because once we have a discount we'll feel more inclined to buy things. Right now we just really can't afford it but every step we come closer to affording it makes us want to say, "Screw it! For the good of the magazine we shall import until our pockets are full of sawdust!" Hahaha, I hope not. Too much other crap to pay for, but not quite as much as I thought...at least, I think.

My mom mentioned that my dad got something in the mail that reports my monthly loan payments as a good chunk less than what I had anticipated (on purpose, of course-- always overestimate!) so that's pleasant.

I'm gonna get back to what I was doing now. Mostly I just wanted to get that horrible pathetic post off the top of my blog : / I should really just stay away from my blog when I'm in a bad mood. It never helps and it just makes me look stupid @_@

Thursday, July 12, 2007

This is the syndrome of me as a stay-at-home freelancer. This is why I hate staying at home! That's why I thought wcities would be so great. Big walk to work every morning. Big walk home. Interacting with people IN THE WORLD instead of in the literal closet. (That's where my computer is, for those who've forgotten.)

I guess it's just one crummy day and of course it's compounded by the fact that I'm playing Japanese games I can't understand. I have no idea what I'm going to write about any of this stuff and it's really really discouraging, if not downright depressing. Then there's the matter of the mail, which should have been delivered and was not, at least not TO me. Granted, it's probably our fault that the buzzer doesn't work, but I specifically requested that the thing be sent in a way that made it end up in my ACTUAL mailbox WHERE THE MAIL SHOULD JUST AUTOMATICALLY GO. Yesterday the UPS managed to tag a note on my door in the building, so I figured they would just knock today, but it must've been a fluke. Found a sticker on the door outside when I went out to buy...chips...

Uhm...

Yeah.

So today is shaping up to be a spectacular failure in pretty much every way. And I'm tired. There is absolutely no reason to be tired, but I am. I hate not having a reason to be tired. The best days are the ones where you absolutely kick your fucking ass and then go to bed feeling like you deserve it. I dunno if I'm gonna get many of those...

I guess the only upside is that I've been lent a copy of Lumines and enjoy that quite a bit...guiltily, when I know I'm supposed to be doing something else.

Thanks for stopping by the emo post of the week! Regularly scheduled programming to return tomorrow...or the day after.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Well, that's that. I called wcities and told them I had been offered some exciting opportunities doing more writing (which isn't entirely untrue, and maybe be even less untrue in the hopefully near future) and had to quit on the spot. Which they were totally fine with. They even want to pay me 20 bucks for last Friday.

Anyways, I'm free! Lancing! This is it. I just have to work super hard now and write as much as I can and then hopefully I'll be termed something akin to A SUCCESS. Even if only within my own little realm. Feels good, though, to be on the way to that.

I wish I were at E3 because that would've been a huge opportunity to write tons of stuff, but so it goes. There are other events to head out to, so hopefully I'll get to check out one of those. In the meantime, especially this week for some reason, I have plenty of stuff to do. The magazine deadline is a week from today and I've got tons of stuff to get done. Of course, after that who knows what I'll do, but so it goes.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Man, I always feel like I'm stealing time to blog. Like, right now I should be doing a hundred other things, but I'm sitting here typing about nothing. I should be studying Japanese or reading or working on a feature or getting ready to leave! Blah!

But no, I should really blog about the weekend before it's next week because Sunday was such a good day. I got the bathroom clean, so if we do what I did and split the place into four "rooms," then we can almost say I got 3/4 of the way done cleaning this weekend. Of course, laundry is a very big chunk of that and I only got a tiny bit of that done, so it probably equals out to more like half.

Also went on a shopping quest for cute clothes, but they didn't have the skirt I wanted in my size. Not a complete failure, though, because I found a cute tank that it's never going to be hot enough for me to wear *sniff* That's another thing I liked about Wisconsin. It was summer and you KNEW it. HOT out. Oh well, I mean it's not like not sweating and sitting around like a lump was any good for me, but I liked being hot for a change instead of cold or accidentally too hot because I expected to be cold.

After shopping we dropped our stuff off at home and went to the newly remodeled and re-everything'd Nob Hill Grille. Used to be a diner, but it's turned all swanky and expensive. We had a date. The boy had steak (which was so tender and delicious) and I had chicken (which was equally so.) Everything was so good that we didn't have room for dessert, which we'll have to do another time because I bet they have something crazy good like mocha cheesecake or something. I'll be disappointed if they don't ;p

Ok ok ok, and now, WHY DIDN'T I REALIZE THE SEASON WAS OVER? The boy brought it up all nonchalantly and I nearly cried. It really snuck up on me. Thirteen episodes all blown by like nothing. X-mas is too far away! We decided to watch oldies until then. Sundays just need some Doctor Who.

Anyhow, yeah, Sunday was pretty dreamy. Even managed to fit in a little gaming. It was a perfect balance of yucky chores and fun happy.

As for today...it will be my first full day at wcities. I hope I can take seven hours. It can be a bit of a slog, but I think the break schedule is definitely fair. And at the end of it I get to wander over to 1Up and have anime club, so I think it should be ok. We'll see...

And then Wednesday is my last day at the grocery store! Sweet. I will maybe have more to say about that later. I had some things to say, but you can't blog instantly from your head yet, so I forgot them.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

I dunno why I miss it so much now. It's ok, but it's not spectacular or anything. I guess I'm just really not a kid anymore and it's kind of a bummer. I mean, it's cool to grow up and I've been not a kid for a while, but maybe it's more pronounced now that I'm done with school. Plus I just had a really good time visiting and I miss my mom. I didn't used to miss everything so much...

Anyways, it's not like we've been having a crappy weekend or anything! Quite the opposite. Yesterday got a whole ton of stuff done, like most of the kitchen and the living room are clean. Could fix up the coffee pot and touch up the fridge, but other than that it is pretty awesome-looking in there.

Today the challenge will be the bathroom and this bedroom. The bedroom is only a pain because all those clothes on the floor have to be washed, which is its own separate pain in the neck. Luckily we have lots of stuff to sandwich in between the lame stuff, like going shopping (*crosses fingers*), playing games, watching Doctor Who, and the boy's other b-day present finally came the other day so we can rewatch alllll of The Venture Brothers, too :D

Gotta go to the grocery store. Dunno if I'll be able to carry everything, but I should at least try. And then after today it's MONDAY again...a week after my fillings. Oh, and it's July. The summer is moving along, I guess, but I can't wait till my mom comes to visit in August. That'll be sweet. And jeez I'll be 22 by then @_@ Hmm : / 22 is a lame number. Then again it doesn't necessarily mean anything. 12 is the best number and nothing spectacular happened that year. Yeah, I'm gonna quit screwing around and try to get some stuff done...